Parents, not enrichment centres, are key to result
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Chenonceau:
I read the SMU article from end to end. I saw nothing about the broader society and parents having too high expectations of the system. Am I missing something?
Alright then people... you heard it from the boss. He has sanctioned tuition/enrichment/homsechooling because his system can't deliver the results he expects from our kids.toddles:
It's in this morning's papers. He was speaking at an SMU event. -
Chenonceau:
I read the SMU article from end to end. I saw nothing about the broader society and parents having too high expectations of the system. Am I missing something?[/quote]Read the one in TODAY newspaper, not ST.
Alright then people... you heard it from the boss. He has sanctioned tuition/enrichment/homsechooling because his system can't deliver the results he expects from our kids.Chenonceau:
[quote=\"toddles\"]
It's in this morning's papers. He was speaking at an SMU event. -
Chenonceau:
I read the SMU article from end to end. I saw nothing about the broader society and parents having too high expectations of the system. Am I missing something?[/quote]broader society is in the last line of the Today article, whose pdf link someone posted in the previous page. \"we expect much more of the education system than it can deliver\" is also in that last para.
Alright then people... you heard it from the boss. He has sanctioned tuition/enrichment/homsechooling because his system can't deliver the results he expects from our kids.Chenonceau:
[quote=\"toddles\"]
It's in this morning's papers. He was speaking at an SMU event.
I think he was referring to things like values and sex education, which has been in the forum page a lot, and which I indeed believe parents and church etc should be more responsible for. -
jesschan:
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120201-0000075/Build-deep-skills-to-attract-employers--Education-Minister
Read the one in TODAY newspaper, not ST. -
sweetie, last para…
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toddles:
I hope so... but then he did start up the Character Education Unit, indicating that he was taking this on (i.e., values and sex education). So... what exactly broader society is supposed to do is anyone's guess. The way things are now, broader society seems positioned to TEACH content and SOURCE materials, whilst the MOE takes on values and sex education.
I think he was referring to things like values and sex education, which has been in the forum page a lot, and which I indeed believe parents and church etc should be more responsible for. -
toddles:
sweetie, last para...
Yup... found it in Today Online. Thanks. -
We just hve to submit to authorities. Of course we can suggest areas that need improvement.
We can motivate our kids to always put their best feet forward.
If having tried all out and still remains mediocre, just migrate if possible.
No need to worry so much! -
Read this article and check out the new website.
http://www.publichouse.sg/categories/topstory/item/437-lets-take-ownership-of-education-in-spore
http://www.backtoschool.publichouse.sg -
I was there.
Newspaper (in Singapore) will only report what we need to hear. I read report saying that minister said that despite the increase in the number of graduates, they should not be fearless of jobs unavailable. The key is to build a pool so as to attract jobs. Many things were just not reported lor, like (these are all in response to questions asked):
1. Bell curve IS necessary, and continue to be a feature of our education system, this promotes healthy competition, just like sports.
2. Neighbourhood schools have excellent teachers and MOE hopes to attract more to neighbourhood schools to avoid elitism. He did not mention Secondary school elitism, just primary schools (stay at better neighbourhood, or parents from good school, can get into better schools)
3. Our education system is to build a set of core values in all our students e.g. national, moral values etc, then help build skills, then passion. (at least that’s what I hear) (My take? Isn’t helping them develop their potential and realizing their passion the key to an education?)
4. He agrees students should not measure their values against how many A’s they obtain, for there are many other measurements of success.
5. He said the government does not give out scholarships based upon the number of A’s a student gets. The aim is to tell the world that the Singapore govt is supportive of our students and would like to support their academic endeavours. The aim is not to reward people with the most number of A’s.
6. On why are we not looking at how we can learn from the Finland’s education system. He said he sent a person to study their system. But he also found out that they are here to study our system. The impression given was that we have a better system than theirs. Nothing short of surprising, as all teachers in Singapore claim that we have the best education system in the world, without proof, support or validation. He also gave an example of how Finland’s Nokia used to be ‘king’ in making handphones and now Apple has redefined the industry. I’m not sure if these two points are linked, but he mentioned them together.
7. He talked about how Steve Jobs told Obama that the jobs are not returning to US, because Jobs was looking to outsource iPads, and the Americans take 9 months to assemble 8700 engineers while the Chinese took 15 days. That’s why it is important to create a critical mass of talent pool. (I have different thoughts but not going to mention here) I think this point is from Thomas Friedman’s article.
Hehe… don’t you think point 1 contradicts point 4?
Forgot other points. If I remember, anyway, my take is that there’s no one interested in fixing things. They are more interested to justify we are the best. We have to wait it out. Nice guy, and very smart too. He also talked about how in his era (which happens to be mine), people were all trained to be engineers because we were more worried about survival. These days, we can afford to have a ‘richer’ life, and therefore students are more free to pursue their passion. (where’s the system that will support this? the syllabus is still heavily Maths and Science)
And, on the issue about people all cramming for A’s, he deluded the blame on parents. Saying something like, "Parents shouldn’t … the number of A’s…" (I don’t want to misquote, so I put … cannot recall the exact words.)
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